The Amazing Sidekick

Chapter 15 – Strange animals and plants

Nozomu was holding the door of the fence, to let the Unicorns in. Taisetsuna was the last one right after Furnace, and as soon as she passed, Nozomu closed the door again and locked it.

It was the middle of the afternoon, and they finished cleaning everything in the main dining room and in the kitchen, so they were now in the backyard together with the happily smiling Guild Master, and an amused Koyaga Azusake that didn’t yet see the Unicorns.

Koyaga carefully approached them and made a deep bow to the frowning white Unicorn, “It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Koyaga Azusake. May God Raluth guide your path.”

To Nozomu’s surprise, both ‘Rampage’ and ‘Furnace’ returned the bow. Taisetsuna noticed his puzzled look because she looked at him, surprised as well. Koyaga smiled in their direction, and explained, “People tend to treat Unicorns like wild beasts, and are afraid of them. That kind of treatment over the centuries made Unicorns dislike people in return. If you treat them with respect, they will treat you well and respect you. Be mean or disrespectful, and you may find yourself looking at that pointy horn stuck in your chest.”

Nozomu slowly nodded and asked, “You seem to know a lot about Unicorns, but why did you say for God Raluth to guide his path? Who is God Raluth?”

That granted him a punch on his right shoulder from an annoyed Taisetsuna, “Come on, you forgot everything about the Priest’s teachings? God Raluth is the God of our World, Raluth! Every three thousand years he judges the World state, and the beings living on it! If they are unworthy, he cleanses the World, and creates new beings! If the beings are worthy, he takes them with him!”

Nozomu blinked in surprise, “A rather harsh God, if you ask me. So, that’s why there is no information before these past three thousand years? Because God Raluth cleansed the World? And where does he take the worthy ones? And how does he decide who is worthy or not?”

Taisetsuna slowly shook her head, a disappointed look plastered on her face, “We may need to have a serious talk about this Nozo, because if the Priest heard you saying all that, he would squeeze your neck for sure. It’s probably better if we don’t fight with swords, because I sure want to kill you, right now.”

She walked to get near the Unicorns, while Nozomu mumbled in a low voice, “How could I know? None of the books the Priest gave me was about religion!”

Nozomu followed her, and while the Guild Master was taking a few weapons from a shelter on the right side of the backyard, a whining noise called Nozomu’s attention coming from the left side. He looked to where the noise was coming and began walking in that direction.

Taisetsuna was talking with Koyaga Azusake, and none of them noticed where he was going. Near the wall of the Guild, there was a square of almost three meters wide and three meters tall, made of a fence covered with green dark vines with a metallic net on top, also covered with the same green vines. Nozomu looked through the spaces on the fence and frowned.

Two weird animals were there, whining non stop in an annoying high pitch voice. Covered in pink short fur and with the size of pigs, with one frontal leg and two muscular legs that enabled them to do big jumps like they were doing at that moment, jumping around while whining.

With a mouth full of sharp teeth and tiny little eyes that looked weird next to the long proboscis that they were using to pick up from the ground the remains of the lunch that was served that day.

Nozomu looked back to ask a question, but Koyaga Azusake was already next to him with a smile, “They are called ‘Scaraar’. In the wild, they use their big and sensitive nose to find their prey. They are able to eat and digest anything, including bones. They are normally used as food crushers, and their manure can be used as fertilizer. Their meat is disgusting, with an acidic taste, so don’t even think about eating them. You didn’t have one of those at the Orphanage?”

“I don’t think so, I didn’t see one there, at least.”

Taisetsuna went to meet them while swinging a sword that the Guild Master gave her, to test it for balance, “We never had one. Those things don’t stop whining, even in their sleep. Besides, they need to eat a lot, and we never had too much remains to feed one. We normally would put the leftovers of lunch or dinner in a case at the back, and let nature take its course to make manure.”

Nozomu nodded and approached his hand from the small dark green leaves of the vines that were covering the fence and over the metallic net on top, “So if these animals can eat anything, why don't they eat this and escape?”

Koyaga answered while slapping his hand, “Let it go, moron! Those things are itchy! Do you want to scratch your hand until your flesh falls off? These are ‘Flesh Bitters’! They have that name because after touching one, you would want to bite your hand off!”

Nozomu immediately retrieved his hand and gulped, “Yeah, probably not a good idea to get too close to them. Strange plant…”

Koyaga pointed to two boxes at the left of the square with the ‘Scaraar’, “We sure have weird plants and animals around here, but they have their usefulness. See those boxes with tiny holes on one side and a top lid? Those are hives of ‘Ergy’. They make delicious honey with the nectar they get from those bushes near them.”

Nozomu looked to where Koyaga was pointing, and he walked there, standing near the two boxes and bending a little to peek through the holes.

Taisetsuna was about to shout, but Koyaga covered her mouth and watched as Nozomu kept on approaching the hive's holes. Then, one of the ‘Ergy’ came out and flew straight at Nozomu’s face. He could barely see that small and quick flying insect that almost looked like a dark fly, until it hit his forehead and exploded, making him jump back, stunned.

Nozomu blinked a few times and rubbed his forehead, looking at the pieces of that strange insect that were left behind, mixed with the blood that was coming out from the wound the explosion caused.

Koyaga burst into laughter before the dumbfounded Nozomu, “Ahahah! You sure are dumb, Nozomu! Why did you approach the hives? Didn’t you learn anything yet? I just told you that we have weird plants and animals, and you immediately go peek through a hole of an ‘Ergy’ hive?”

“I didn’t know they exploded! What kind of insect makes honey and explodes like that? And why do they explode? That stupid bug hurt me!”

“Because it’s their defence mechanism, that’s why! Even ‘Scaraar’ love their honey, but they are not as dumb as you to approach an ‘Ergy’ hive so leisurely! A swarm of ‘Ergy’ is capable of killing a person, and only specialized Mages deal with them by using Magic. ‘Ergy’s honey is delicious, and they take the nectar to do it from the blue flowers near you, in those bushes!”

Nozomu quickly turned back, and before anyone could do or say anything, he kicked the nearest blue flower.

The explosion that followed his actions threw him to the left side, and he rolled on the floor a few times until he stopped with his face against the soil, his clothes burned, and his body full of bleeding wounds.

Taisetsuna reacted faster than anyone else. When Koyaga got near them quickly followed by a worried Guild Master, Taisetsuna was already taking from under her blouse a vial that was hanging in a string around her neck. Quickly, she took out the cork with her teeth and used her right index finger to control the exit of drops of the liquid inside the vial that she poured on every of Nozomu’s wounds. She then spat the cork to the ground near her, and as she was holding his head, she put a portion of the liquid in the vial in her mouth, and while using two fingers to open his, she kissed him and forced him to swallow the Healing Potion.

She then corked the vial again and checked his breathing and heartbeat while searching for more wounds.

Nozomu slowly opened his eyes and faced a crying Taisetsuna. She immediately hugged him and sobbed, “Stupid! Can you stop trying to die on me? Why do you keep on scaring me like this?”

Nozomu looked over Taisetsuna’s left shoulder in the direction where the small bush that he kicked used to be. The bush disappeared, completely vaporized, the nearest hive was wobbling, and a bunch of Ergys were coming from it, hovering around the box and checking the environment for danger.

Koyaga pulled him up and slapped his head a few times while Taisetsuna was cleaning her face on the sleeve of her blouse, “Stupid! Moron! Why did you kick the bush of ‘Fool's Death’? You think they have that name for what, just for a laugh?”

“How was I supposed to know? I told you I don’t remember anything! I didn’t see those plants in the books the Priest gave me! And how is it possible for a bush to explode like that? And why do you keep them there?”

All that questioning granted him a few more slaps in the head as Koyaga was explaining, “I already told you that ‘Ergy’ likes the nectar in those blue flowers! The dark green rubbery leaves can be used as wound dressings because they are a bit sticky. They make a small dried fruit with a hard shell, named 'crackers'. The nectar that the blue flowers produce is explosive, as you may have noticed. As for the 'crackers', my brother roasts them in the kitchen, and we serve them for free to the Adventurers. Because ‘crackers’ make the mouth a bit dry, people that eat them tend to spend more money on drinks. So, we earn money from selling more ale! And we also sell small dried pieces of honey! And now, I am going to cut your salary for this week because of the damages you caused, so that you learn! Moron! Dumbass! You almost died, stupid, if it wasn’t for Taisetsuna’s quick intervention!”

Nozomu was trying to protect his head from the slaps, but every time he covered his head, a punch hit his stomach, and he would get another slap in his head by the still angry Koyaga Azusake when he bent his body. In between the slapping, Nozomu noticed that Koyaga also had tears in her eyes, which she was trying to hold in. When she finished slapping him, she looked to the pale looking Taisetsuna and asked, “Why didn’t you use your Healing Magic on him instead of forcing him to drink a Healing Potion with a kiss? Are you that eager to kiss him instead of thinking properly?”

Taisetsuna approached the shouting Koyaga and put a claw on the tip of the nose of the angry Bovine-kind woman and answered with a cold, dead voice, “Because Magic doesn’t work on him, that’s why! The last time he scared me like this, I wasted precious time trying to heal him with my Magic, but I learned! I am not eager to kiss him, but I will kiss him and force him to drink Healing Potions as many times as necessary so that he doesn’t die! Nothing like this would have happened if you didn’t cover my mouth when I tried to warn him about the ‘Ergy’! Next time that he gets hurt because of one of your stupid pranks, I will rip your heart out and shove it down your throat!”

Koyaga grinned and approached a bit more, “Careful, little girl, I might…”